Arvato Has Switched To Green Power Worldwide
Arvato has done it: Since the beginning of the year, the global supply chain and e-commerce service provider has sourced its electricity entirely from renewable sources. Further measures are being implemented and planned to additionally reduce emissions.
Since the beginning of 2023, Arvato, global provider of supply chain and e-commerce services, has sourced its electricity entirely from renewable sources. The company reports that its switch to green power has already resulted in savings of 20,000 tons of CO2 compared to 2018, the baseline year for its climate targets. Arvato is also increasingly stepping up its own power generation using photovoltaic systems. Systems are already in operation at 18 locations worldwide, with new systems currently being installed in Düren and Dorsten, as well as an expansion in Poland. Feasibility studies are being carried out at numerous other locations.
“By switching to green power globally, we have achieved an important goal in our sustainability strategy and thus also contribute to the pursuit of Bertelsmann’s overarching climate strategy,” says Melanie Engler, Senior Expert Sustainability at Arvato. “The switch to green electricity was easier to implement in some countries than in others.” In Germany, for example, all sites have been using 100 percent green power since the beginning of 2021. This merely involved changing the tariff with their respective utilities provider. In countries such as Turkey, China or Poland, however, such a simple upgrade is often not possible. Here, there is the possibility of acquiring “Renewable Energy Certificates” (RECs), which document that the purchased electricity comes from renewable energy sources. Each certificate serves as proof that one megawatt hour (MWh) of renewable energy was generated and fed into the grid. The certificates must be sourced as locally as possible, i.e. in the same energy market or in neighboring countries, and they must meet defined quality standards – these are key requirements on the part of Arvato, and part of Bertelsmann’s climate strategy. The aim is to increase local demand and promote the expansion of renewable energy projects.
Keeping growth as climate-neutral as possible
“Our one-hundred percent switch to green power leaves us with only limited leverage for further measures in the area of Scope 2 emissions, that is, indirect emissions from purchased energy,” explains Melanie Engler. “That is why we are now looking at further measures, focusing among other things on emissions caused by heat generation. In this way, we are setting the course for our second climate goal of cutting our site emissions in half by 2030 as compared to 2018.” In order for Arvato to make its contribution to the heating transition, the aim is to save heating energy and use climate-neutral heat pumps for generating heat.”Another focus is on keeping the company’s growth as climate-neutral as possible, which entails new requirements for distribution centers. These requirements have already been summarized in Arvato’s own “Global Sustainable Building Policy,” which lists global standards for both owned and leased sites. Says Melanie Engler: “Beyond this, we also see additional potential in employee-related emissions – which is why we are working consistently to expand the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles at our sites and improve connections to local public transport. We also promote local job tickets, for example, and have introduced a ride-sharing app in France that could also be rolled out in other countries.”
